Flushing device.



G. S. BURNS. FLUSHING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1914.

Patented M21119, 1915.

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WITNESSES.

ATTORNEY HE NORRIS PETERS CO" PHOTO-LIfHO., WASHINGTON. D- C.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFrIon.

CLINTON S. BURNS, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

FLUSHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

Application filed May 11, 1914. Serial No. 837,734.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON S. BURNS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flushing Devices; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the lettersand figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to flushing devices for railway toilets, and'has for its principal object to provide a device of this character, which may be operated only when a coach carrying the device is traveling at a predetermined speed, in order to prevent flushing the toilet while the train is standing at a station platform, or while running slowly through the yards. In accomplishing this object, I have provided improved details of structure, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure I is a sideelevation of a portion of a coach equipped with a toilet flushing device embodying my invention. Fig. II is an enlarged view of the operating mechanism, shown in its relation to the car wheel; one. of the side keeper disks being removed in order to show the governor mechanism.

Fig. III is a transverse section of the operating disk. Fig. IV isan enlarged perspective view of the operating disk and governor mechanism; the front disk being removed for better illustration.

Referring more in detail to the draw- .ings: 1' designates a railway coach of ordinary construction, having a toilet 2 that is provided with the usual valve mechanism (not shown), and a pull lever 3 for operating the said valve mechanism.

Fixed to the under side of the coach floor is a depending bracket .4 and pivotally mounted on the bracket and extending longitudinally of the coach and over one of the ,carwheels or other traveling member of the car, are spaced beams 6, having a push-rod 7 connected with their free ends and extending upwardly through the floor of the coach adjacent the toilet. The portion of the rod 7 above the floor carries a collar 9 and the part of the rod between said collar 9 and the car floor is surrounded by a coil spring 10, whereby the rod 7 and beam 6 are yieldingly held in their normal, elevated position above the car wheel or actuating member.

The push-rod 7 is preferably connected to the beams 6 by means of a coil spring 11, which surrounds the lower end of rod 7 and is connected thereto and to the beams 6, so that on pushing rod 7 downwardly the operating mechanism, which is presently described, will be brought in yieldable engagement with the car wheel.

Revolubly mounted on an axle 12, which is projected between the beams 6 and mounted therein, is a clutch 14 comprising side keeper disks 15 which are secured together by a spacer 16 of small diameter; the disks 15 being of such size that their peripheries are normally adjacent and adapted for contacting the rim of the. car wheel when thrown into operative position by rod 7. On 7 the inner side of and near the periphery of each keeper disk 15, is an inturned, annular flange 18, and slidably mounted between the disks and held within the said flanges 18 is a floating ring 19, having a peripheral flange 20 extending outwardly between the disk flanges 19 and provided with a peripheral groove 21. Secured to the ring flange 20 and adapted for travel in the groove 21 is a cord 22, which is passed over a pulley wheel 23 thatis mounted in the bracket 4, and thence upwardly through the carfloor to the pull-lever 3 with which it is connected.

Projecting between the disks 15 adjacent the spacer 1 6 are pins 24, and pivotally mounted on said pins and suspended therefrom on opposite sides of the spacer, are

Each of the arms 25 is connected with the spacer 16 by a spring 30, which yieldingly retains the arm in close relation to the spacer and resists the centrifugal force that tends to throw the arms outwardly into locking engagement with the floating ring.

With the mechanism described, when the beam 6, upon which the clutch disks are mounted, is lowered so that the disks will contact with a'car wheel or axle, or other 'moving part of the car, frictional engagement of the disks with the moving part will carry the disks around on their axles and centrifugal force generated by rotation of the disks will throw the governor arms outwardly against the tension of their retaining springs until one of the arms lodges back of its clutch boss 26 and thereby locks the friction disks to the floating ring, which is carried therein. When, the parts are locked, the ring rotates with the disks and the cord 22 is wound in the peripheral groove of the floating ring, so that the lever 3 is pulled downwardly and the toilet flushed. It is apparent, however, that if the clutch mechanism were lowered while the car were standing or traveling at such slow speed that sufficient centrifugal force would not be generated to spread the governor arms, the flushing would not take place, and in orderito insure flushing as soon as the car has started and gained sufiicient speed to operate the clutch, I have provided a latch mechanism which I will now describe.

Pivotally suspended from the floor of the car is an arm 31, which is connected with the push rod 7 by a spring 32, so that the arm is normally yieldingly tensioned toward the rod, and fixed on said rod is a stop-collar 33, which is adapted for engagement by the free end of the stop-arm 31 when the arm is spring. 32. The spring 32 is so arranged relative to the push-rod and arm 81, that when the rod is in normal or elevated position the spring is inert, but that as soon as the rod is forced downwardly, the spring is tensionedand tends to pull the stop-arm inwardly, so that it will engage the stop collar and prevent upward movement of the push rodi It is apparent that with this construction, when-the push rod is forced downwardly the stop-arm will engage the collar and hold the push rod against upward movement, thereby insuring engagement of the frictiondisk with the car wheel or other moving part.

Connecting the stop-arm 31 with the floating ring 19 is a cord 34, which is so arranged relative to the stop-arm and ring that it is ordinarily slack, but so that when the floating ring is revolved sufficiently, the cord will be straightened and the stop-arm pulled out of the path of the stop-collar and the push-rod allowed to returnto its initial position under tension of its spring.

The operation of the device while the car is in motion has heretofore been described. In the event, however, that the apparatus should be operated while the car was standing or traveling at a low speed, the friction pulled inwardly by thev disk would be moved into engagement with the actuating part of the car, but the disk would either not be revolved at all, or it would be revolved at such a low speed that the governor arms would not be thrown into engagement with the bosses on the floating,

ring and the flushing apparatus would not:

be actuated. In'order, however, to secure actuation following the lowering of the push-rod I have provided the latch mechanism just described. It is apparent that with this mechanism, when the car is standing or traveling slowly, the rod when lowered will pull the stop-arm over into contact with the collar, so that the arm is held do;

pressed and the friction disk in engagement with its actuating part.

The mechanism remains in this condition until the car has attained the predetermined actuating speed, when the proper governor arm engages, the

floating ring and revolves the ring to ten-.

sion the cord 22, so that it may pull the flushing lever and at the same time pull the cord 34 to releasethe push-rod, Thetoilet is then flushed and the rod returned to initial position for successive actuation.

By providing the floating ring with the two bosses and the separate governor arms on opposite sides of the center of the ring and arranging the pull cords as described,

the device is adapted for actuation when the car upon which it is carried is moving in either direction, so that it is unnecessary to adjust the apparatus or duplicate :the same.-

Having thus described my1nvent1on,what

1 claim as new therein, and desire to secureby LettersPatent, is:

1. The combination with relatively movable members, of a toilet bowl mounted 'on' one of the members and comprising flushing mechanism, means operable from the other mechanism, means operable from the other member for actuating the flushing mechanism, and comprising agovernor whereby actuation of the flushing mechanism is determined by the speed of travel of the 'rela-; tively movable parts, and manually'oper-; able means for establishing cooperation be: tween the actuating mechanism and said other member. s

3. The combination with .a railway car comprising runnlng gear, of av closet bowl,

normally inert flushing mechanism adapted for actuation from the running gear, and.

means for movingsaid mechanism into 'cooperative relation with the running gear.

4:. The combination with a' railway car,

comprising running gear, of a closet bowl,

flushing mechanism including a clutch member adapted for actuation from the running gear of the'car, and means for controlling engagement of the clutch member with said running gear.

5. The combination with a railway car 6. The combinationwith a railway car, of

a closet bowl comprising flushing mechanism, adaptedfor' actuation from the running ger when the car ismoving at a predetermined speed, and manual means for establishing cooperation between the flushlng mechanism and the running gear.

7 The combination with a railway car, of a closet bowl, flushing mechanism including a clutch, and means whereby the mechanism is actuated when the clutch is moved at predetermined speed.

8. The combination with'a railway car,

comprising running gear, of a closetbowl, flushing mechanism, a clutch adapted for actuation from the running gear, and governor mechanism in said clutch adapted for actuating the flushing mechanism when the running gear travels at a predetermined speed. 7

9. In a flushingdevice for railway toilets, valve actuating mechanism, a normally independent actuating member, a clutch operable from the normally independent member and comprising governor mechanism, and a setting device for establishing cooperation between the clutch and independent member.

10. In a flushing device for railway toilets, valve actuating mechanism, a normally independent actuating member, a clutch operable from the normally independent member and comprising governor mechanism, a setting device for establishing cooperation between the clutch and independent member, and a latch for maintaining cooperative relation between the clutch and independent member. s

11. In a flushing device for railway toilets, valve actuating mechanism, a normally independent actuating member, a clutch operable from the normally independent member and comprising governor mechanism, a setting device for establishing cooperation between the clutch and independent member, a latch for maintaining cooperative relation between the clutch and independent member, and means operable from the clutch for releasing said latch.

12. A flushing device for railway toilets comprising valve actuating mechanism, a clutch adapted for operative engagement with running gear and comprising a governor mechanism and a normally loose member adapted for actuation from the governor mechanism, and: connection between thenormally loose member and the valve actuating mechanism. I p

' 13. A flushing device for railway'toilets comprising valve actuating mechanism, a

clutch member comprising governor mechanism and a normally loose member adapted for actuation from the governor mechanism,

and-having operative connection with the valve actuating mechanism, a setting device for moving the clutch to operative position, a a latch for retaining the setting device in set position, and connection between the latch and the'normally loose'clutch member, for the purpose set forth.

14. A flushing device for railway toilets comprising valve actuating mechanism, a clutch member comprising a revoluble' body provided with governor mechanism and a normally loose member adapted for engagement by the governor mechanism, connection between the normally loose member and Y s the valve actuating mechanism, means for setting the clutch, a latch for holding the setting means in operative position, yielding means for moving the latch to setting position, and connecting between the latch and normally loose member for withdrawing the former from engagement with the 100 setting means.-

15. A flushing device for railway toilets comprising valve actuating mechanism, a clutch comprising a hub and spaced disks .mounted on the hub and provided with'fac- 105 ing flanges, a floating ring confined within the disk flanges and provided with bosses, governor arms pivotally mounted on the clutch within the floating ring and adapted for engagement with the ring bosses, means 110 for moving the clutch into operative engagement with the normally independent member, whereby the clutch may be revolved, and connection between the floating ring and the valve actuating mechanism.

16. A flushing device for railway toilets comprising valve actuating mechanism, a clutch comprising a hub and spaced disks mounted on the hub and provided with spaced and facing flanges, a floating ring 7 mounted within the flanges and having a peripheral flange located between the disk flanges, and having a boss on its inner face, a pin on said disks, a governor arm pivotally mounted on said pin, a spring for re- 1:5

taining the governor arm in inert relation to the ring boss, connection between the ring and valve actuating mechanism, and means for moving the clutch to operative position.

17. A flushing device for railway toilets com risin Valve actuatin mechanism a and valve actuating mechanism, means for,

moving the clutch to operative position, and

a latch for retaining the clutch in operative,

position until the ring is actuated fromthe governor arm. I

18. In a flushing device for railway toilets, valve actuating mechanism, a clutch member, a pivotal support, a clutch revolubly mounted on the pivotal support and comprising governor mechanism and a float- 7 ing member adapted for actuation from the governor mechanism, connection between the floating -member and valve actuating mechanism, a setting device connected with the pivotal support, a latch adapted for Copies otithis patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the, "Commissioner ot'Pat entsgi retaining the setting;,devic e: in operative position, and connection between the latch and fioatingmember, whereby thesetting device is released when the floatingmember p is actuated,

19. In a flushing: device forrailwaytoi- I lets, valve actuating mechanism, a pivotal.

support, a clutch member mounted on; the

support and comprising governor mecha-.

ing the rod and latch to draw the latch toa position for engaging the collar when the rod is depressed, and connection between the latch and floating clutch member, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

in presence of two witnesses.

CLINTON S.-BURNS."

Witnesses: v v

LYNN A. ROBINSON, L. EJCoATs.

Washington, I). 0. 

